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Prelate cites impact of PGMA projects in Cagayan Valley
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TUGUEGARAO CITY – Bayombong Bishop Ramon Villena cited today the role of President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo in the development of Cagayan Valley, saying her road and bridge projects created a big impact in the
region.
Bishop Villena, who is also the outgoing chairman of the Cagayan Regional Development Council, said the
President’s continued endorsements and approval of major regional development projects made a difference
in the lives of the local folks.
“We give our gratitude and appreciation for her. Without her we would not have been able to put through and
make things happen in Region 2,” he said.
President Arroyo is here to attend a testimonial program for Villena, who has been RDC chair of region 2 for
several years. As in all regions in the country, RDC is the highest regional body which reviews and
recommends development projects of the government.
The President arrived a little before noon and proceeded to the Karammaran Hall inside Cagayan provincial
capitol where the RDC testimonial for Bishop Villena was held.
Under Villena’s stewardship of the RDC, several development projects and programs were accomplished
such as infrastructure projects, agricultural production enhancement programs, government and private
investments, tourism promotion and many others that have contributed immensely to the development of
Cagayan Valley.
Testimonial messages by local officials honoring Villena cited his leadership in coordinating development
efforts in the region.
Among the testimonial speakers were Santiago City (Isabela) Mayor Amelita Navarro, Public Works and
Highways regional director Eugenio Pipo, tourism regional director Bless Diwa and Ronald Guzman who
spoke for the private sector.
In his response, Villena reminded the RDC of President Arroyo’s role in the development of Cagayan Valley.
He said the major intra-regional roads, bridges and roads that connect to the national highways have improved
the routes for goods and services.
He also said that the Cagayan special economic zone and Freeport paved the way for attracting tourists in the
region.
The President did not give any speech but was satisfied by the messages of thanks from the local officials.
Also present in the event were Cagayan Governor Alvaro T. Antonio, Tuguegarao City Mayor Delfin Ting,
Archbishop Diosdado Talamayan, and Bishops Rodolfo Beltran and Ricardo Bacay.
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PGMA presented with 2 legacy books
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President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo personally received the first two copies of books chronicling the
achievements of her administration from 2001 to 2010, during a simple book-launching ceremony held today
in Malacañang.
Deemed a fitting and timely tribute to the Chief Executive’s achievements in her nine years as President, the
books “Beating the Odds” and “Beat the Odds: Another Stone for the Edifice” were launched by their respective
editors through the ceremonial presentation to the President.
The first book was "Beating the Odds," co-authored by former Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Chief Renato
Velasco and Presidential Spokesperson Ricardo Saludo, which recounts major issues and challenges the
President faced early in her administration.
It is an analytical close-up of policy-making, decision-making and action-taking by a Philippine President under
the most challenging circumstances, the authors said.
The book portrays President Arroyo’s leadership around six issues that stalked the Philippines at the turn of
the century – terrorism, the Mindanao peace process, the drug threat, the global emergence of the Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an attempted coup d’etat against the government and a hounding budget
deficit.
According to Presidential Management Staff Undersecretary Andy Cui who also served as the program’s
master of ceremonies “the book is heavy with statecraft and highlights of presidential decision-making.”
The second book, “Beat the Odds: Another Stone for the Edifice” which was published by the Philippine
Information Agency (PIA), was edited by Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Gary Olivar and University of the
Philippines Professor Gonzalo Jurado.
It contains “a collection of essays on the key achievements of my administration,” the President wrote in her
foreword for the book.
“The strategy at the center of my administration’s overall economic and social plan was encapsulated by the
program I called “Beat the Odds”, a title that enumerates many of the major themes we pursued in key areas of
fiscal policy, educated reform, infrastructure, employment creation, political governance and social and cultural
modernization,” the President said.
Beat the Odds stand for:
B – Budget Reform;
E – Ensuring education for everyone of school age, establishing conditions conducive to learning, providing
necessary facilities and equipment;
A – Automating elections for clean, honest, accurate exercise of suffrage;
T – Transportation and digital infrastructure development;
T – Terminating hostilities with armed rebel groups;
H – Healing the wounds of EDSA;
E – Electricity and water provision to every barangay in the archipelago;
O – Opening opportunities for employment to some six to 10 milion members of the workforce;
D – Decongesting Metro Manila, including decentralizing governance, in order to spread the positive effects of
government to the various regions; and
DS – Developing Subic-Clark corridor into the most competitive international service and logistics center in
Southeast Asia.
Jurado, a senior faculty member at the UP School of Economics and a former mentor of the President and
Olivar, rated the book with a Grade of “1,” the same grade he gave to the President when she was still his
student.
He said the book gives concreteness to words already spoken on the President’s achievements and gave the
“1” rating particularly on the President’s direct cash assistance program for the poor including the
unprecedented budgetary allocations to human and physical infrastructure “which can be seen all over the
country.”
Olivar said the book also contains technical notes and vigorous points of view of experts not connected or
influenced by the government.
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PGMA lauds success of Bangit’s short stint in AFP
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PGMA lauds success of Bangit’s short stint in AFP
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo today lauded the achievements of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen.
Delfin Bangit, whose early retirement took effect today, 13 months ahead of his mandatory retirement.
The outgoing Chief Executive said though Gen. Bangit’s retirement came 13 months ahead of his 56th birthday
which is on July 31, 2011, “he chose the early exit as the more honorable option for the sake of the country and
for the harmony and continued professionalism” of the uniformed service.
At the testimonial parade and review in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City in honor of Bangit and the assumption
of Lt. Gen. Nestor Ochoa as Acting Chief of Staff, the President also lauded the whole military for its invaluable
contribution to the country’s continued peace and security and for the successful holding of the first-ever
automated elections in the country.”
“We close another chapter of our storied nine years of service to the country which had been marked by
heroism of our men and women in the armed forces, and Gen. Bangit was one of them,” the President said.
President Arroyo said that even when she was vice president, “I saw Gen. Bangit’s dedication and readiness in
ensuring the fight against terrorism, which has been recognized by the Legion of Honor award by the President
of the United States.”
“And during typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, we saw how the military under Gen. Bangit’s direct supervision, got
deeply involved in the relief, rescue and rehabilitation efforts for our typhoon victims,” the President said.
The President said Bangit enhanced the successes of his predecessors especially in professionalizing the
service.
The President also credited Bangit for the AFP’s role in the May 2010 elections saying “he reached out to all
sectors to ensure the successful conduct of honest, orderly, peaceful and the most credible automated
elections.”
She added that even the previously known election hotspots were no longer placed under Comelec’s control in
the last elections because the Armed Forces made extra effort in ensuring the dismantling of private armed
groups.
She thanked Gen. Bangit for all the sacrifices he made to push the agenda of a professional military service
and for touching the lives of so many soldiers and civilians.
The President then cited some of the achievements of her administration in creating 9 million jobs, many of
them in the Armed Forces of the Philippines for new soldiers; in the construction of 100,000 new classrooms
many of them helped by the Armed Forces and the roads, rail and nautical highway infrastructures, including
ports and seaports, also with the involvement of AFP engineers.
The President then asked the newly-installed Ochoa to continue what Gen. Bangit had done and to ensure
professionalism in the uniformed service.
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